Force To Be Reckoned With
by DelicateSoul
Summary: AU One-Shot: -Shadow Kiss- When Rose was getting Christian towards safety during the Strigoi attack, what if Christian didn't save Rose in time? What will happen to her, and how will Dimitri cope?


**Hey! Yes, I **_**have**_** read **_**Blood Promise**_**, and now I'm impatient for **_**Spirit Bound**_**. D:**

**Anyways, I was rereading **_**Shadow Kiss**_**, and I decided to make this one-shot just from an idea that'd jumped into my head at the time. **

**Disclaimer: Quotes and characters belong to Richelle Mead!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"God, what are you doing?" I hissed.

"Trying to get back to the dorm," he said. "What's going on? I heard screaming."

"There are Strigoi on campus," I said.

"What? How?"

"I don't know. You have to go back to the chapel. It's safe there." I could see it; we could get there easily.

Christian was as reckless as me sometimes, and I almost expected a fight. He didn't give me one. "Okay. Are you going with me?"

I started to say I would, and then I felt that nauseous feeling creep over me. "Get down!" I yelled. He dropped to the ground without hesitation.

Two Strigoi were on us. They both moved in on me, knowing I'd be an easy target for their combined strength, and then they could go after Christian. One of them slammed me into a tree. My vision blurred for half a second, but I soon recovered. I shoved back and had the satisfaction of seeing her stagger a little. The other one--a man--reached for me, and I dodged him, slipping out of his grasp.

The pair of them reminded me of Isaiah and Elena from Spokane, but I refused to get caught up in memories. Both were taller than me, but the woman was closer to my height. I feinted toward him, and then struck out as fast as I could toward her. My stake bit into her heart. It surprised both of us. My first Strigoi staking.

I'd barely pulled the stake out when the other Strigoi backhanded me, snarling. I staggered but kept my balance as I sized him up. Taller. Stronger. Just like when I'd fought Dimitri. Probably faster too. We circled and then I leapt out and kicked him. He barely budged. He reached for me, and I again managed to dodge as I scanned for some opening to stake him. My narrow escape didn't slow him down, though, and he immediately attacked again. He knocked me to the ground, pinning my arms. I tried to push him off, but he didn't move. Saliva dripped from his fangs as he leaned his face down toward mine. This Strigoi wasn't like Isaiah, wasting time with stupid speeches. This one was going to go for the kill, draining my blood and then Christian's. I felt the fangs against my neck and knew I was going to die. It was horrible. I wanted to live so, so badly…but this was how it would end. With my last moments, I started to yell at Christian to run, but then the Strigoi's fangs sunk into my neck at that precise time.

I struggled to fight him off, but slowly my strength began to slip away until my hand fell to the ground. As I stared at the sky, where all the stars shimmered their radiance, I realized that I was never going to tell Dimitri how much I loved him one more time, never going to hold his hand ever again. All these thoughts went through my head as a tear leaked out of my eye before both of them closed shut, and I drifted off to unconsciousness or to death.

Dimitri, I thought.

* * *

**DPOV**

A sudden chill came over me as I finished staking the Strigoi that were around me, and I knew it wasn't from the wind. Something had happened.

As I was walking back to the building structures, I saw a silver stake on the ground and a few drops of blood around it. Going over there, I picked it up and my eyes widened when I realized it was Rose's based on the pattern. She must've been in a struggle…and bitten. What was she doing out here when I'd told her to get to safety?

I only hoped that she didn't turn into one of _them_.

My legs took me back to the dormitories where I found every Moroi and Dhampir novices residing at. After a quick scan of the room, I noted that Lissa and Christian weren't there. Something told me that if I found them, I'd find Rose.

I turned to walk outside again since the Strigoi have already been killed or run off, taking some hostages with them unfortunately.

"Belikov! Wait!" a voice shouted from a distance.

Turning immediately, I saw Alberta sprinting as fast as she could toward me. She stopped in front of me and took a few seconds to catch her breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked at me straight in the eye and said, "Come with me." I didn't think I had a choice.

We ran through the hallways, making the Moroi and Dhampir students move out of the way for us as we charged in between them. Whatever Alberta saw, it must've been an emergency situation. Somehow, we ended up in the medical clinic where Dr. Olendzki was rushing from room to room with a few clipboards in her hand.

Alberta held her hand out. "Where is-" she began.

"Down the hall, first door on the right," Dr. Olendzki said hastily and continued on.

She followed her directions, and we reached the room Alberta was looking for. She looked at her watch and said, "I'll give you a few minutes alone," she said and walked off.

Fear gripped my chest as I grabbed and turned the doorknob. Pushing the door opened, I heard a faint blip of the heart monitor. Looking up, I thought I was in a nightmare.

Rose was in the bed with multiple tubes attached to her along with an oxygen mask.

I shut the door behind me before walking over towards her. I grabbed her hand gently and rubbed circular patterns onto the back of her hand with my thumb.

"Rose," I whispered, unable to let the facts sink in. She had been attacked, and now she was in a critical condition. The only thing that could have harmed her was Strigoi.

The door opened and Dr. Olendzki came in looking exhausted. Looking over the various machines, she turned to me and sighed. "She was very lucky to have even survived. Having that much blood taken out of her would have meant death to a normal human," she reported, running a hand through her hair.

"Will she be all right?" I asked, hoping to hear good news.

But the look on her face told me otherwise. "At this point, Belikov, I'm not so sure. She may have to have a few blood transfusions if her condition turns worse," she said. After jotting down some notes, she took her leave.

"Belikov," Alberta said, knocking on the door. I turned to face her. "We're going to scout for Strigoi activities."

"C-c-caves," a hoarse voice whispered. If it weren't for our Dhampir hearing, we wouldn't have caught it.

The two of us turned our heads swiftly to see Rose's mouth move slowly in the oxygen mask. I knew she wasn't going to be conscious for long.

Grabbing her hand, I asked, "What caves? Where?"

She struggled to point in a direction before her hand fell back onto the bed.

"Rose!?" I gasped, but Alberta put a hand on my shoulder.

"It's all right. She's just unconscious," she reminded me.

Slowly, I released my hold on Rose and turned around to walk out. With clenched fists, I swore to kill every Strigoi we'd find in the caves. Alberta was walking beside me and kept quiet the entire time until we had reached the conference room where Janine and the other Guardians were talking. They didn't even turn to acknowledge us but continued to talk in a way that let us understood what was going on.

"All right, got it? These two groups will advance, and when we give the signal, the rest of you follow in to help the hostages escape," Janine said sternly. Alberta had contacted her a few minutes ago with the Strigoi's location once we were able to designate the point on a map.

"Any objections?" Celeste asked, looking around the room.

"I'm going," a voice said. We all turned to find Christian standing in the corner of the room with his hands in his pockets.

"What's going on? Who let him in here?" Yuri demanded.

I put my hand out and turned to look at him. "We can't let you come in the crossfire," I told him.

But he wouldn't listen to rational reasons. "Look, I was there when the Strigoi attacked Rose. Okay? She got attacked instead of me. I helped her out too late," he explained, a blazing fire in his eyes.

I recalled seeing scorch marks around the area where I had found Rose's stake. So it was Christian that killed them off.

"Okay, you'll be in my group," I said, making some Guardians outraged.

"Belikov!" one shouted from the corner.

I turned sharply, making some of them flinch. "He's capable of helping us out. If it wasn't for him, Janine," I said, turning to her, "your daughter would be dead right now."

She let that fact sink in for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. The others merely grumbled that they accepted, finding fault in fighting with a Hathaway. Christian nodded at me in thanks.

It was in the afternoon for humans, meaning the sun was still out. Each group ran as fast as we could towards the caves. Janine stopped all of us a few meters away from the entrance.

"No one comes in until we give the signal through the radio," she said and took her group in first. My group followed in right behind hers.

As we walked swiftly through the entrance, there weren't any Strigoi guarding nearby. That aroused my suspicion.

"Heads up!" Yuri shouted, causing everyone to bring out their stakes.

Rose would go crazy if she knew she had missed out on a fight against Strigoi, I thought with a little smile. Returning back to my normal composure, we ran into a group of five Strigoi. Fortunately, Janine's group had already taken them down as we finished scouting the area behind us.

Far in the corner, we saw thirteen heads huddled together. One of them lifted his eyes up.

"Guardian Hathaway!" he gasped, and I immediately knew it was Eddie Castile. He and the twelve others were bounded by their hands. We ran towards them and ripped the bindings.

"Everyone, follow us towards the exit! Be fast or you'll slow us down and possibly make us encounter Strigoi," Janine said sternly, and she turned on her heels and walked as fast as she could. Her group and part of my group surrounded the hostages whereas the rest of them kept an external barrier around us.

Suddenly, Janine swore under her breath, and in that moment seven Strigoi surrounded us, preventing us from reaching our exit which was a few meters away. We tightened our circle, determined to keep the thirteen students alive.

One of the Strigoi lunged out and snapped Guardian Alan's neck, making him fall to the floor lifelessly. Seeing him in that position reminded me that they had nearly done the same thing with Rose. Now she's hospitalized and was on the brink between life and death.

"Kill as many as you can!" Janine ordered as she staked two of the seven.

I continued darting my eyes from the fight to the students, making sure nothing was going near them but Guardians. My train of thought was broken as a Strigoi jumped on my back, taking both of us down to the ground. I struggled to keep his face far away from mine while I tried to get a firm grip on my stake.

"Stop struggling, Belikov, if you want to meet your student in the next life," he hissed as he fought with my hands that restrained his neck.

My eyes narrowed. "It was you," I hissed. He was the one who had ordered them to attack Rose.

He just chuckled darkly. "Of course. Now that she's out of the way, all we need to do is rid the world of you," he said and jerked forward, but my hands--if possible--gripped his neck even tighter. Had he been a normal human, he would have been dead by now.

"Someone help him!" Eddie shouted as the last Strigoi standing went down.

"No!" I barked at him, "This one is mine."

As he continued to struggle with me, I got a good opening at his heart.

I smiled coldly. "Sorry, but your plan failed. Both of them," I said acidly.

He looked baffled for a second, but that was all I needed to drive the stake into his chest. His eyes widened as he gasped for breath, rolling off of me in the process. I only hoped that his death would be a long, painful one. After a few seconds of fighting with death, he fell limp. I reached down and pulled out my stake.

Our group continued, and within a matter of seconds we had reached the exit where our other group standing by at base camp welcomed the hostages with water and food along with feeders for the Moroi captives.

I ignored the medical treatment and ran ahead towards the academy. By the time I had reached the medical clinic, Dr. Olendzki was shouting orders from Rose's room.

"What is taking so long with getting blood donors!?" she screamed as she seemed to be struggling with something.

I walked towards and into the room only to see Dr. Olendzki trying to revitalize a pale Rose. Her heart monitor was going far too slow to pass as normal and her breathing was heavily labored.

A nurse hurried in with her head bowed. "I'm sorry, Dr. Olendzki, but no one is available as of right now to donate blood," she said apologetically.

"Then find somebody! This girl is on the brink of death! Bring me anyone! She is a universal receiver!" she shouted at the poor girl.

I stopped the girl from leaving. "I'll donate," I said sternly, turning both of their attentions towards me.

"Guardian Belikov," Dr. Olendzki acknowledged, "But you just came back from fighting Strigoi. It all right; we can find a few Dhampirs who will donate."

I walked up to her fiercely, making her flinch back. "My student is near death, and I want to save her," I said, "I need to."

She thought for a few seconds and nodded. "Fiona, place a needle in his arm and prepare to start drawing blood," she ordered as she rolled up Rose's sleeve.

I shrugged off my jacket and tossed it onto the nearby sofa as Fiona led me towards the bed right next to Rose's. Putting the needle in the crook of my arm felt like a small pinch. The two women started connecting tubes to needles, and before I knew it my blood was entering Rose's system. Slowly, I saw the color come back to her face and her breathing began to calm down. Her heart monitor started beating at an even tempo, making Dr. Olendzki and Fiona sigh in relief. Once they had made sure that her condition was stable, they took out the tube and heavily bandaged both of our arms.

"Guardian Belikov, you may need to stay here for a while, I'm afraid, since we have no other rooms available," Dr. Olendzki said, writing down a few notes on her clipboard.

"Ah, I can go try arranging one now," Fiona said with a blush as she glanced at me. Dear God, Rose was going to murder her.

"No, here is fine for both of them," Alberta said, walking in the room. They both bowed their heads slightly.

Dr. Olendzki smiled at them. "Very well. Have a good rest, Guardian Belikov," she said and ushered Fiona out.

Alberta walked over towards Rose and patted her shoulder gently before turning to look at me. "I'm glad she's all right. If you hadn't arrived here as soon as you did, who knows what would've happened," she said with a smile.

I could only grimace. "I'd rather not think about it," I responded, turning my head to look at Rose's sleeping figure with a smile.

Alberta sighed in relief and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm surprised your feelings never altered your fighting. But I suppose that because of it she's breathing right now," she commented with a sneaky smile, making my eyes go wide.

She knew, I thought. We were goners.

Before she left the room, she turned and winked at me. "I won't tell anyone. Just try and keep your hands off of her while she's still in school," she said and left before anything could come out of my mouth.

* * *

The orange light of the sunset came through the window and hit my face, making me open my eyes. I blinked a few times to get my vision focused. Looking around, I remembered what had happened the previous day.

"And sleeping beauty awakes," an all-too-familiar sarcastic voice said hoarsely.

I jerked my head towards my left and saw Rose sitting up in her bed, seeing as someone had cranked her bed level up. She smirked at me.

"Rose," I said, getting out of bed. I sat down in the chair next to her bed and held her hand in both of mine.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she said.

"You were dying, Roza. I couldn't not worry about you," I said, gently kissing the back of her hand.

Just then, the door opened and we immediately pulled our hands away as Fiona walked in with a bright smile.

"Oh, you're awake, Guardian Belikov! Is there any pain in your arm?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine," I replied.

"That's good to hear. Would you like anything? Food? Pillows? Blankets?" she asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I sneaked a glance at Rose and she looked like she was about to kill the girl right on the spot.

"No, thank you. I'd like to talk to my student _alone_, if you please," I said, a cutting edge in my voice.

With a disappointed look, she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Sighing, I turned my attention back to Rose.

"Are you okay?" I asked, seeing her hands clenched into tight fists.

"Oh, I'm perfectly normal. In fact, I've never felt better," she said, sighing as she rested her head against her pillow.

"Don't tell me you're jealous," I said, trying to keep a smile from appearing.

She scoffed at me. "No, of course not," she replied.

"Roza," I said, making her turn her head towards me.

She raised a brow. "What?"

The smile came out. "I love you."

Her tense expression relaxed and she smiled at me. It felt like my heart was melting.

"I love you, too, comrade," she said softly.

Laughing, I stood up and bent over towards her face. She hesitantly looked around, making sure that no one was looking. I brushed my lips against hers before pulling back to look at her face. Smiling, we leaned towards each other again, but she pulled back slightly.

I began to think that she didn't like it. She must've seen the worry on my face because she gave me a mischievous look.

"That nurse really does piss me off," she growled.

I chuckled. "So I realized," I replied.

She leaned forward until our lips were barely touching. "I'm going to kill her if she puts her hand on you again," she warned sexily.

"Likewise," I replied, the image of Adrian popping into my head.

She pulled my shirt and kissed me with all the passion she could muster. If we weren't in a medical center, we would've gone further.

But Rose was a force to be reckoned with, after all. And I enjoyed every moment of it.

* * *

**Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? R&R**

**This is one of the few AU one-shots I'll be doing. Hopefully you liked it!**

**And I am currently working on **_**Love Forgotten**_** and **_**Under The Stars**_** as we speak. I am putting them on hold for the next two week because I'm still debating whether I should take the class I'm currently struggling in. Well, until the next update!**

**-Delicate**


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